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Dear Apple, there’s nothing ‘really sad’ about using a 5-year-old PC

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Re: Dear Apple, there’s nothing ‘really sad’ about using a 5-year-old PC

#191

Post by phillc73 »

majewsky wrote: post #164
pjc50 wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Compelling reason why I had to upgrade my iPhone 3G, iPhone 4 and original iPad after less than 3 years? Painfully slow and unusable. Exactly. Upgrading is a cost; not just money but also time. I upgraded my 1st gen iPad's OS exactly once (5 -> 6 I think) and it was a completely horrendous experience, involving PC iTunes. The main driver of PC upgrades, apart from improved games, is bloat and the slow deterioration o…

> It's not as bad as it used to be but reinstalling the OS and cleaning the fans can often substantially improve an old PC. And if you're reinstalling the OS anyway, add an SSD (at least for the system files). This gives a substantial performance boost on most old PCs for under 100 $/€.

Completely agree. I have a 5 year old Asus K54C (i3-2330m model).

About a year ago I upgraded RAM from 3GB to 6GB, which dealt with most of my multitasking and "large files in memory" issues.

About 2 months ago I bought a Samsung Evo 250GB SSD for under €90. This solved just about every other frustration I had with the machine - slow boot times, slow program load times etc.

The only issue I really have now is maxing out one core too easily and having the fan spin up loudly. Investigations reveal a CPU upgrade is possible.[0]

I have no intention of buying another laptop for a further 12-24 months, even if the plastic case of this one is held together with super glue and tape.

[0] https://community.spiceworks.com/topic/433227-asus-x54c-bbk9...

Re: Dear Apple, there’s nothing ‘really sad’ about using a 5-year-old PC

#193

Post by kalleboo »

Pengwin wrote: post #99
colund wrote: post #24

In times of climate change debate I think Apple is doing the wrong thing here, encouraging buy and throw away mentality increasing waste.

Ive had that exact same feeling since my iPad 1's life was effectively ended by software updates. It was the quickest device to become obsolete I've ever owned.

As someone who had to develop for that thing - it was underpowered from day 1. iPhone 3GS hardware with 5x the number of pixels to push and higher expectations on software capability? It was never going to work.

Re: Dear Apple, there’s nothing ‘really sad’ about using a 5-year-old PC

#195

Post by existencebox »

NEDM64 wrote: post #178
existencebox wrote: post #109

Perhaps I have some wires crossed from too much time as a sysadmin, but I take a 5 year old (+) PC (or any machine, really) as a mark of pride, not any bit of shame whatsoever. It speaks to a high degree of reliability which often speaks well of the operator (even if just "choosing robust hardware" is a component of this) Some stories to add some color to this: Ran a very primitive file sharing server for my universi…

That's not a PC (Personal Computer), it's a server. You are thinking about hardware, Apple is talking about the whole computer.

You're right, but I was not trying to make a 1:1 comparison, but saying that properties servers seem to have in spades I'd really appreciate seeing in other markets, but that segment seems rarely catered to. (Let me gesture as well to my 2.5 year old phone whose irreplaceable battery is currently ballooning)

My statement addressed the "whole computer" as well, although the FS example was very much a special niche tool, I'd go so far as to say 90% of novel software features that have necessitated hardware refreshes in the last... decade? I could probably live without. This may be mildly hyperbole, but I hope the spirit of my statement comes across. I want to spend less time replacing/fixing my platforms and more time with them "just working".

Re: Dear Apple, there’s nothing ‘really sad’ about using a 5-year-old PC

#196

Post by yuhong »

mikehearn wrote: post #36

I interpreted that comment as a jab at the PC industry. The implication being that in the last 5+ years the PC industry has failed to offer 600 million users a compelling reason to upgrade. Isn't that the correct interpretation, considering the whole point of bringing that up is because they're positioning a new device intended to replace the PC? I seriously doubt it's intended to mean (to quote the article) "LOL poo…

I was thinking about selling Windows to a non-profit foundation for a while now.

Re: Dear Apple, there’s nothing ‘really sad’ about using a 5-year-old PC

#197

Post by notahacker »

slantyyz wrote: post #46
mikehearn wrote: post #36

I interpreted that comment as a jab at the PC industry. The implication being that in the last 5+ years the PC industry has failed to offer 600 million users a compelling reason to upgrade. Isn't that the correct interpretation, considering the whole point of bringing that up is because they're positioning a new device intended to replace the PC? I seriously doubt it's intended to mean (to quote the article) "LOL poo…

>> The implication being that in the last 5+ years the PC industry has failed to offer 600 million users a compelling reason to upgrade Compelling reason why I had to upgrade my iPhone 3G, iPhone 4 and original iPad after less than 3 years? Painfully slow and unusable. Well if the compelling reason to upgrade is "painfully slow and unusable", then maybe a >= 5 year old PC that still works isn't a bad thing. If I'm no…

The irony of those comments is that one of the Mac's selling points is that after 5 years the average person can still expect it to be a decent machine running the latest OS and not corrupted by bloatware.

(My six year old PC laptop is an incredibly heavy piece of junk that crashes all the time due to the combination of corrupted hard disk and Vista, and it actually is sad that I still occasionally find a cause to use it, not least because it's still the least unreliable device for running Skype that I own)

Re: Dear Apple, there’s nothing ‘really sad’ about using a 5-year-old PC

#198

Post by Roboprog »

slantyyz wrote: post #167
rootusrootus wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's irony, since Apple has a ~80% adoption rate for iOS 9 and Google has an adoption rate of I long ago switched away from iPhones to Android devices, but I'd be lying if I didn't admit that Apple's public commitment to privacy and Android's recent security woes didn't make me think twice about what the next phone in my pocket will be. I look at the system updates page on my Moto X longingly, but it still says Feb…

> That's irony, since Apple has a ~80% adoption rate for iOS 9 and Google has an adoption rate of But I also wonder what the story is behind that adoption rate discrepancy. Apple makes their own phones, so they can push out upgrades easily. Most of the Android phones sold were made by Samsung right? And Samsung has a a wide variety of phone models and penchant for making mods that slow down updates and/or make them i…

I think part of the Android version spread has to do with prepaid phones. At least 2 of my family members regularly lose/destroy their cheap Android phones and then replace them. These cheaper phones ($30 - $60) are usually running an older 4.x version (until recently, often 3.x).
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